The 21-year-old senior at Syracuse University says she has regained the 20 pounds she dropped this summer competing on the CBS-TV reality show "Survivor: Vanuatu Islands of Fire."

And she says she's no longer ticked off at anyone, including Chris Daugherty, who won the $1 million first prize on Sunday's finale in a 5-2 vote by other contestants.

Eliza says she now realizes he did the smart thing when he promised he would join her to vote off Twila Tanner, the eventual first runner-up. He instead aligned with Twila and finalist Scout Cloud Lee in voting off Eliza, who finished fourth out of 18 contestants competing on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu.

"If Chris had told me the truth ... I would have tried to change things. I would have stirred stuff up," Eliza says. "But I was so blinded by my hatred of Twila at the time that when he said, Oh, we're going to vote out Twila. We're going to vote out Twila,' you know, I didn't look past the fact that maybe he wasn't telling the truth."

Eliza, whose family lives in the Washington, D.C., area, says she expects to graduate in May from SU with a dual major in international relations and political science, with a minor in Chinese. She says she has applied to law schools in several other cities.

In a telephone interview Monday morning from Los Angeles, the location of the showís reunion, Eliza talked in detail about her experiences on "Survivor."

Q Where did you go after Sunday nightís show?

A There was a big after-party at the CBS studio here. And then I had to be back at the studio at 4:30 (a.m.) for (network news program) "The Early Show."

Q How many hours of sleep did you get?

A About two. Maybe.

Q How are you doing physically now?

A Oh, Iím back to normal completely.

Q It looked like you lost a lot of weight while you were on the island.

A I did lose a lot of weight. I think I lost about 20 pounds. For someone who, uh, didnít even weigh that much to begin with, it was a lot.

Q What was your overall strategy going into this, if you had one?

A You have these ideas of how itís going to be, what youíre going to do when you get out there. Iíve never missed an episode of "Survivor." I thought I was just on top of it.

And then you get out there and you just have to adapt and change, get to know the people and see how theyíre reacting to you, and then just change your strategy as you go. So you canít really have one set strategy.

Q You were portrayed on the show as kind of a chatterbox who didnít do a lot of chores. Was that part of your game strategy?

A Well, you know what? We were barely eating as it was. And for them (other contestants) to lug wood around all morning on the day of a challenge when we knew we had a big challenge coming up ó you know, I did a little bit. It wasnít like I did nothing.

But I wasnít going to waste all my energy doing that, because winning the challenges was important to me and, you know, I won a lot of challenges (including one for a Pontiac G6 automobile). And I was really proud of how I performed.

Q Were you as talkative as you were portrayed?

A You know, itís hard because youíre only seeing (on TV) a very small fraction of what happened. Maybe there were times when I talked more than I should have. But I think I did tone it down and people grew to like me, even though maybe it didnít show.

Q What was your reaction Sunday night as you watched your final tribal speech (in which Eliza angrily accused both Chris and Twila of lying and being deceptive)?

A Oh, gosh. I donít regret anything I said, because thatís how I felt at the time. I was very angry. ... I was very hurt and I expressed it by kind of ripping into them verbally. But, you know, now itís calmed down, and there are no hard feelings. Iím not harboring animosity toward anyone.

Q Had you won the final two immunity challenges, as Chris did, do you think you would have walked away with the $1 million?

A Iím not sure. Iím really not.

Q You would have probably brought Twila into the final two with you, wouldnít you?

ANo. I donít think I could have. Because I wouldnít have wanted to see her get the $100,000 (first runner-up prize), even if I thought I couldnít beat the other person.

I think that I should have probably made a final-two alliance with Scout, because I think I could have beaten Scout in the final-two situation.

Q When you watched the show this fall back on campus, were there any big surprises for you, things you didnít know had happened until you saw the show?

A Not really. You pretty much knew what people were saying about you behind your back. You knew who liked you and who didnít. You know, it still hurt to see Ami, Julie and Leann decide to vote against me, because those are good friends of mine.

Q Youíve been a longtime fan of the show. Was the experience being on the show pretty much what you expected?

A No. You cannot anticipate what the show is going to be like. I mean, watching every season, seeing every previous challenge, knowing everyoneís strategies ó itís different with the different people. Itís never the same.

Q Were you able to concentrate on your studies this fall while everything with "Survivor" was going on?

A Sometimes it was hard. I really never got any studying done on Thursday nights (when "Survivor" episodes aired). But I was able to get my work done and get it done on time. ... I think my grades will be just as good this semester as other semesters.

I think itís a little bit easier on a college campus than other places, because college students just say, "Oh, thatís the girl from ĎSurvivorí and sheís just a student like us and weíre going to respect her privacy."

Q Are you going to be out making public appearances and taking advantage of opportunities as other "Survivor" contestants have done?

A Oh, definitely. Definitely. But not yet. Nobody was allowed to talk to me until after I got off the show. So I havenít heard from anyone yet.

Q If they asked you back for another "Survivor," would you do it?

A In a heartbeat. I love the game of "Survivor." And, you know, I donít think I would be satisfied with anything but the title of sole survivor.

I love the challenges. I love everything about it, the interpersonal relationships. I just want to challenge myself again and see if I could play even better than I did.